It’s World Spay Month and we need your help!

At this very moment, Marisa and 299 other stray cats in Athens are waiting to be spayed/neutered in the World Spay Month 2016 challenge. With your help, they can go on to live longer, healthier lives without more unwanted kittens.

Marisa

My name is Marisa, I’m 7 months old and I live on one of the busiest streets of Athens. The girls who take care of my siblings and me tell us that we are luckier than many other stray cats in the city, as we live in a museum garden so we can feel the earth under our paws and lie under the shade of the plants. And we get regular meals.

But our mum taught us to keep a low profile. The ‘bosses’ here don’t like us; we hear them shouting at the girls, telling them that we make a mess (honestly, we are very discreet with our daily needs, we wash regularly, and don’t leave litter and cigarette stubs around the garden like the other visitors) and threatening that if our family grows any bigger, they will “get rid of us”. When they shout and make a scene like that, my siblings and I go and hide behind the statues.

Gray

At this time of year, tomcats from all around the area suddenly appear, battle-scarred and vocal, hoping to have their way with my sisters and me. One of our furry suitors was hit by a car right outside our garden last week – he was looking at us, not at the traffic. Another one was followed by a pack of dogs, who cornered him and tore a big wound in his side. Those who arrive unscathed set off the bosses again, complaining about the evening serenades and the whiffy ‘calling cards’.

I feel I am just a kitten, but the male cats see me differently and if they are successful, I could end up giving birth to a litter of kittens that likely wouldn’t survive for very long with all the dangers that we face. I could also contract feline sexually transmitted diseases, including FIV (the feline version of HIV) and herpes, which is one of the leading causes of upper respiratory infections in cats.

Glen

The reason I’m telling my story on World Spay Day is that there is something very simple you can do make a huge difference for cats like me. For as little as €35, you can become a Friend of Nine Lives today and a cat will be spayed in your name!

Last year, your support sponsored the neutering of 150 cats during World Spay Month alone. Following that success Nine Lives is expanding the challenge to help even more cats! At this very moment there are 300 others like me who are waiting to be spayed/neutered so that we can go on to live longer, healthier lives.

Click through our Facebook gallery, read our stories, and let us know which cat (or cats) you would like to sponsor with your donation.

Due to increases in VAT, Friends of Nine Lives annual fee now starts at 35 euros – the cost to spay a single cat AND give anti-parasite treatment – and ANY amount you contribute will go directly to controlling the stray cat population of Greece.

Nine Lives Greece receives no government funding and is entirely volunteer run, meaning every single euro you donate goes directly to neutering, feeding and providing medical care to Greece’s stray cats.

For as little as €35, you could prevent:

• One female cat (like me) and her female offspring producing 63 kittens this year alone
• A male cat fathering as many as 2500 kittens in a single year
• The death of some of the 90% of the cats who are run over by cars because they are unneutered, usually in search of a mate
• The spread of hazardous feline sexually transmitted diseases

And you could create:

• Safer, healthier colonies of neutered cats who fight less, roam less and have the greatest chances of survival

See if you can find me and my feline friends in our World Spay Day Cat Gallery. I urge you to get to know us and help keep us safe by sponsoring us to be spayed or neutered today. 

Sincerely,

Marisa

PS If you can’t decide on a cat, don’t worry. Just visit our site and any amount you give will be put towards neutering those whose cases are most urgent!